March 3 (Bloomberg) -- ReNew Power Ventures Pvt., a clean-energy developer backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., won the
most capacity in a government solar auction in the central
Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

ReNew was awarded a license to build a 30-megawatt
photovoltaic plant after bidding to sell power at 6,970 rupees
($112) a megawatt-hour, according to S.R. Mohanty, secretary of
new and renewable energy in the state. That’s about 19 percent
below the global average price for electricity generated by
panels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

India, the third-biggest energy consumer on Earth, plans a
six-fold increase in solar capacity by 2017 to reduce blackouts
as plunging panel prices help photovoltaic projects compete on
costs with coal and gas-fired plants. The government is using
competitive tenders to avoid European-style subsidies, where
above-market tariffs for wind and solar farms are common.